A friend recently shared his story with me about forgiveness. Some years ago, another person treated him unjustly. My friend harbored resentment, contempt and dislike against this person for years. Finally, he felt God whispering to him to confess his feelings to the offending party. After much prayer, he told the man of his negative feelings toward him and asked for forgiveness. He admitted this was difficult for him to do and, although the man gave only a tepid response, my friend felt he had completed the assignment God gave him.
Forgiveness is mentioned over 70 times in the Bible and obviously is important to the Father. Well known passages on this are found in Jesus’ Model Prayer in Matthew 6:12, as He teaches us to, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” and in Luke 23:34, as Jesus said from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Many other passages can also be found.
I agree with my friend that asking others to forgive us is difficult, especially when we feel they have wronged us in some way. But it’s always the right thing to do, and we know from life experiences that doing the “right” thing is usually not the “easy” thing. In this situation, a good strategy before approaching another is to pray fervently that God will give us the strength and courage to say what we need to say with sincerity. Then we should “just do it!”
“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Col. 3:13
